Chapter 2: Breaking free

Evelyn POV

As I floated in the water, surrounded by the mocking laughter of wealthy socialites, memories from my previous life surged through me. Every detail was crystal clear. How could I have forgotten this moment that had shaped three years of misery?

In my previous life, Adrian had believed I’d manipulated his mother into arranging this engagement party early, thinking I was scheming to trap him into marriage. The truth was that Margaret Whitmore had organised everything without consulting me, desperate to secure what she saw as a suitable daughter-in-law.

As a result, he despised me even more deeply.

I remembered how he’d stood at the edge of this very pool, his handsome face twisted with cruel amusement as he held our engagement rings. Two platinum bands that should have symbolised our future together.

“If you can jump in and retrieve the rings,” he’d sneered, loud enough for everyone to hear him before he tossed the rings into the pool. “I’ll marry you.”

And like the lovesick fool I’d been, I’d believed him.

Even though I couldn’t swim, even though I was wearing a formal designer gown, I’d jumped in without hesitation.

The water had been so cold, and my dress immediately soaked with water, weighing me down as I fought to stay afloat. I’d searched for the rings until my lungs burned for air. I couldn’t care less. I was determined to prove my devotion.

When I’d finally found the rings and climbed out, soaking wet, with my mascara ruined, everyone had been laughing. Adrian’s friends, his family, even the staff had been unable to hide their amusement at the spectacle I’d made of myself. The woman who’d jumped into a pool fully clothed just because her fiancé told her to.

But Adrian hadn’t even bothered to spare me a glance. He just stood there staring at me with indifference, unaffected by my desperate display of devotion. Before I’d even caught my breath, he’d received a call.

Isabella Clarke had heard of our engagement and was threatening to jump off a building. Without hesitating, Adrian had left immediately, abandoning me right then and there to rush to Isabella’s side. At the same time, I stood there dripping with water and shivering, clutching the rings I’d nearly drowned to retrieve.

The entire city had talked about it for weeks. The Bennett heiress who’d made such a fool of herself for a man who couldn’t even be bothered to stay at his engagement party.

To finally marry Adrian after that public humiliation, I’d worked for three more years. Three years of swallowing my pride, reshaping my personality, abandoning my dreams.

Three years of becoming someone else entirely, only to end up kidnapped and tortured to death. All for a man who’d left me to die while he married another woman.

I looked down at the engagement ring now clutched in my palm, the same ring I’d retrieved from this pool in my previous life, and smiled bitterly.

“Evelyn Bennet, is this what you really want?”

Heaven had given me a chance to be reborn, to correct the mistakes that had led to my destruction.

In this life, I wouldn’t be the pathetic woman who jumped when told to jump. In this life, I would be myself, and I would make those who hurt me pay the price.

Under the theatrical gaze of the crowd, I swam to the edge of the pool and pulled myself out with grace. Water streamed from my dress, but I stood tall, ignoring the way the silk clung to my body and the way my carefully styled hair hung in wet ropes around my shoulders.

“Impressive, Evelyn, you actually found it,” a mocking voice sneered from the crowd gathered around the pool.

“So obedient,” another voice added, “Jumping when told to jump. Adrian should reward her loyalty.”

“Exactly, perhaps with this ring, Adrian will finally marry you. Though after that display...”

“I’ve never seen anything so desperate. Does she have no shame?”

They continued to taunt me. Their voices carried the cruelty of people who’d never known real suffering, who treated others’ humiliation as entertainment.

Before, I would have lowered my head submissively, enduring silently for Adrian’s sake. Or I would have hurried away with my head down, apologising for existing, for being wet, for being an embarrassment.

Not anymore.

I straightened my spine, lifted my head and smiled coolly as I met everyone’s gaze.

“Yes,” I spoke loudly, silencing their jeers instantly. “I jumped, and I found it. So, did you enjoy watching the show?”

The laughter began to fade as my words registered, disbelief etched across their faces as they all stared at me in confusion. They were used to seeing me meek and obedient.  

“You’re all respectable figures outside these walls,” I continued, letting my gaze sweep across familiar faces of business leaders, socialites, and Adrian’s family friends. “But here you are, watching a woman’s humiliation for entertainment. Are you proud of yourselves?”

The silence that followed was deafening. Some people’s smiles gradually faded, while others looked completely taken aback, as if I’d suddenly sprouted wings or started speaking in tongues. This wasn’t the Evelyn Bennett they knew. They were used to the docile, eager-to-please substitute who would do anything for Adrian’s approval.

That’s right. In my previous life, I’d been so desperate to make a good impression that I’d swallowed every insult, absorbed every slight with a grateful smile. I’d been the perfect victim, always apologising for taking up space in Adrian’s world.

But I was done being anyone’s victim.

Without waiting for responses or caring about their shocked expressions, I lifted my sodden gown slightly and walked toward the banquet hall.

I hadn’t walked far when I heard the whispers starting again behind me:

“What act is she putting on now?”

“Don’t worry, she’ll still run back and throw herself at Adrian in the end. Where else would she go?”

“Mark my words, she’ll be begging for his attention again by tomorrow.”

I wasn’t moved by their words a bit. They would soon learn just how wrong they were.

When I reached the banquet hall, I paused in the doorway to scan the room.

The hall was magnificent. Glittering chandeliers cast a warm light over marble floors, illuminating elegantly dressed guests in designer clothing as they mingled and clustered around cocktail tables, laughing lightly over champagne.

At the centre of it all stood Adrian Whitmore himself, surrounded by admirers and influential guests.

The ravishingly handsome man stood at 6 ft 2 in, wearing a perfectly tailored black tuxedo cut to emphasise his broad shoulders and lean frame. His dark hair was styled to perfection, and his clean-shaven jawline highlighted his perfect bone structure.

But it was his eyes that drew me to him, just like everyone. Those cold, grey depths that seemed to see everything and find it all lacking. Right now, those eyes were aloof, scanning the room and the guests with a bored expression.

His cold demeanour made him both attractive and unreachable, placing him at the top of the social hierarchy.

He was every woman’s fantasy and my worst nightmare.

Seeing him now, surrounded by admirers and basking in their attention, I couldn’t help but think of my previous life’s final moments. While I’d been assaulted by thugs in that warehouse, while I’d begged for his help and been dismissed as a “dirty woman,” he’d been glowing just like this at his wedding to Isabella. Radiant with joy he’d never shown me, celebrating a love I’d spent three years trying to earn.

Hatred surged through me, filling every part of my body. My fingers tightened around the engagement ring until the diamond cut into my palm, drawing blood.

Then I walked straight toward him.

Conversations around him quieted as I approached. My dripping gown had left a trail of water behind me, but I didn’t care. I had endured far worse humiliation than this. I could feel every eye on me in the room, and I could hear their whispers, but I ignored them.

As I approached him, he slowly raised his eyes, regarding me with a cold curiosity. His gaze travelled from my ruined hair to my soaked dress, as if he were examining an uninteresting piece of art.

After his brief examination, he looked me up and down one more time with a mocking amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Evelyn,” he called out flatly. “What? Here to claim your prize?”

His indifference pierced my heart with pain. It was designed to reduce me to a grateful, simpering fool begging for scraps of his attention. In my past life, I would have smiled through the humiliation.

I would have tried to play it off as a romantic gesture; I would have slipped the ring onto my finger and deceived myself that this was his way of showing affection.

Only this time, I had not come to beg for his attention, but to end this charade once and for all.

Without breaking eye contact, I reached up and removed the engagement ring from my finger. Then, opening my other hand, I revealed his ring, the very one he had tossed into the pool as an act of humiliation. The one I’d risked my life to retrieve from the bottom of the pool. I held both rings high enough for everyone to see.

I watched as satisfaction flickered briefly across his face. He must think I’m here to humiliate myself further. The entire room seemed to hold its breath.

And with all the force I could muster, I threw both rings at him.